Trinidad cemetery's actions and finances under investigation

Dave Bunce, superintendent of the Masonic Cemetery on the other side of town, prides himself on meticulous care of the grounds. He recycles flags from graves and tries to repair damage to headstones. Here, he examines the detailed work on an all-copper tombstone. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

TRINIDAD — Surrounded by broken glass, rusted tin cans and gnarled barbed wire lies what memorializes
Giuseppe Nicolloto's 38 years on Earth. And John Sabo, 23. And Mary Ann, wife of a man whose name is scattered in indecipherable shards among yellowing mason jars.

The gravestones of the three — and others, some dead for 100 years — are among the shattered, broken and intact ones dumped on a hill behind Trinidad Catholic Cemetery.

Down the trail, heaped in a muddy garbage pile of plastic flowers, McDonald's French-fry cartons and a TV set, are miniature American flags.

"It's unbelievable. It's disrespectful," said Tom Murphy, head of Mullare Murphy Funeral Home. "Someone needs to speak for the people who can't speak for themselves."

(Click on image to enlarge)

The cemetery's conditions, which a local priest calls "disgraceful," are the responsibility of a nonprofit board, the Trinidad Catholic Cemetery Association. Despite the name, the Catholic Church no longer controls any of the cemetery's operations.

The five-member board, run by the same president for 30 years, has failed to follow its own bylaws, has filed inaccurate records with the IRS and has at least three members who appear to have conflicts of interest, a review of hundreds of pages of board records shows.

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The board's actions and finances are under investigation by the Colorado attorney general's office. And circumstances in Trinidad, as well as at another nonprofit cemetery in Pueblo, have prompted Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Cokedale, to sponsor a bill requiring greater transparency and accountability for nonprofit cemetery boards. There are about 100 registered in Colorado, according to records, but not all cemeteries — including religious ones — have to register.

Hidden in the hills behind the Catholic Cemetery in Trinidad are broken headstones that have been tossed in piles. There also are gopher holes in and around the graves, trash along the fences and weeds all over the grounds. Questions are being raised about why those responsible are not taking better care of the property. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

"Society views cemeteries as sacred land," McKinley said. "If your money is in property rights in the cemetery, you should be able to know where the money is going."

Dennis Malone, the board's lawyer, said most of the financial issues were "minor discrepancies" or mistakes made by an accountant. The failure to follow certain bylaws, he said, was unintentional.

"I'm not saying things were done perfectly," Malone said. "But this is a very small organization that has taken care of a large cemetery."

The board, he said, "is totally committed to seeing the cemetery prosper."

"A one-man operation"

Lucille Corsentino of Concerned Citizens of Roselawn Cemetery in Pueblo looks over a pile of flags and flowers behind a dirt mound at the cemetery. Dennis Malone, the cemetery board's lawyer, said any problems are unintentional and the board "is totally committed to seeing the cemetery prosper." (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

John Fred Tavella, a retired coal miner and member of the cemetery board since 1967, was elected president 30 years ago. On the same day, Tavella was made director of the cemetery. He has retained both positions ever since.

"It's been a one-man operation," said board member Nick DeBono, who sued his fellow board members for financial malfeasance, among other things. "He picks who he wants to be on the board. He decides what offices they hold."

Attempts to interview Tavella were unsuccessful and board members other than DeBono either declined comment or didn't return phone calls.

DeBono, a board member since 1982, said he never saw detailed financial plans or a budget — despite the board's running an operational deficit for eight straight years, according to IRS forms from 2003 through 2010. He also never saw explanations for ground-maintenance expenses, which yo-yo year to year. In 2010, for instance, ground maintenance totaled $5,591 — about the same amount the cemetery spent in 1985, records show. In 2009, it was $26,878.

There are also no minutes showing that the board approved of director Frank Leone's company supplying the cemetery with its cement needs for years.

IRS tax forms filed by the nonprofit list the Rev. Joseph Fisher as a board member between 1998 and 2002, although he died in 1997. From 1982 through 2007, Tavella's salary of about $20,000 — as well as the board secretary's salary — wasn't disclosed to the IRS on its 990 forms. Additionally, those same IRS forms from 1996 to 2009 listed the perpetual fund's value at a static $235,000.

Malone, however, said the fund's total is closer to $800,000 and that some of the IRS forms contained inadvertent errors by an accountant. Trust money from the perpetual fund could have been used for operational expenses, Malone said, but board members didn't know that.

He said maintenance costs varied because "sometimes there are extra things to do. We spend it as we need it."

No priest on the board

As both an employee and board member, Tavella signed checks on occasion, including those paying his salary. He voted on pay raises, vacations and Christmas bonuses for cemetery employees. Tavella, who last year unilaterally doubled most of the cemetery's prices, never recused himself, according to board minutes. And it doesn't appear he was ever re-elected, even though bylaws mandate one-year terms. Additionally, minutes reviewed by The Post show only one year since 1982 when there were any other officer elections.

Despite rules requiring four meetings a year, records show four years between 1999 and 2008 that the board didn't hold any meetings and, in some instances, met but failed to keep minutes. And in the past 13 years, seven board members — the number required by board bylaws — have convened only twice.

A sticking point for DeBono and others has been rules that require a priest from Las Animas County serve on the board. The last priest served in 1998. Four years later, the board signed a resolution doing away with the priest requirement.

Lawyers for the attorney general's office, which oversees nonprofits, have questioned whether the resolution was proper, considering the board was "improperly constituted," according to a settlement draft. That same draft, part of the attorney general's attempt to settle some of the board problems, notes board actions since 1997 should be considered invalid.

The Rev. Richard Becker, a priest with Holy Trinity Catholic Church, expressed interest in serving on the board in February 2009. He also mentioned in the letter that he had "received a volume of calls of complaints" from families about the cemetery's condition.

Two weeks later, Tavella wrote Becker and said he believed funeral home owner "Tom Murphy and his spies" were responsible for the priest's allegations. Tavella said he would meet with Becker "sometime in the future."

Becker said he was disappointed, especially because he believed he could gather scores of volunteers to help fix up the cemetery.

"It was a typical small-town, good-old-boys network thing: people inclined to not worry about the rules and do what they want," he said. "I was concerned by the lack of respect ... and the conditions at the cemetery. The name included 'Catholic,' and the way they were acting was not reflective of that."

Since DeBono filed his 2009 lawsuit, Tavella has continued running the cemetery but not accepting his salary, Malone said. The board has also stopped holding meetings, he said, at the request of the attorney general's office. Tavella is not opposed to stepping down from the board as part of a settlement agreement, Malone said.

Woman's body moved

Rose Borders' adult daughter died of breast cancer in 2001. Two months after her burial in the cemetery, Borders and a friend drove from Pueblo to Trinidad to put flowers on her daughter's grave.

But it was no longer there.

"I was shocked. I can't even put it into words," Borders said.

The cemetery had moved her daughter's body to another location, telling her that they mistakenly buried her in someone else's plot.

"It was awful. Awful. Even now it bothers me," said Borders, who settled with the cemetery for a "small sum."

That same year, another priest at Holy Trinity Catholic Church expressed concern to the board about the cemetery's upkeep and asked questions about Tavella's dual roles. Over the next few years, others did as well, including Joanne Slanovich, a retired teacher living in Highlands Ranch.

Slanovich, who has numerous relatives buried in Trinidad Catholic Cemetery, including her father and grandparents, said she wrote a letter to each board member about three years ago, asking them to address the "deteriorating conditions."

"The weeds are taking over, there are gopher holes everywhere and ant hills. There aren't any trees or plants. The older sections don't have grass anymore — they're just dirt. There is trash up against the fence," said Slanovich, who did not receive a response from the board. "It's not personal. But if you serve on the board and work at the cemetery, you have a job to do and should be accountable."

Malone, the board's attorney, said the cemetery's water system is antiquated and doesn't have adequate water pressure. The cemetery hasn't been able to afford new pipes, he said.

"There's a drought," he said, adding that board member Leone came out on weekends and at night with hoses to do extra watering.

On the other side of town is the 28-acre Masonic Cemetery, also run by a nonprofit board. Even in winter, the grounds are landscaped, trees are trimmed and the fence is free from windblown trash. The gopher holes are relatively few and far between.

Dave Bunce, who takes care of the cemetery, said he keeps the miniature American flags on veterans' graves from Memorial Day through the Fourth of July. Then he gives them to a woman in town to recycle for the following year. When headstones break, he tries to repair them. If he can't, he keeps them in the cemetery garage in case a relative visits.

"People notice how run-down things are over there," Bunce said about the Catholic cemetery. "I'm seeing a lot of people who already own plots there coming over to buy them here instead."

McKinley's bill, which has passed its initial hurdle in the House, would change things on the Trinidad board, as well as cemetery boards statewide. If passed, at least one owner of a lot, grave space, niche or crypt must be on the board. Additionally, plot owners and designees would have the right to inspect the cemetery's financial records and attend board meetings.

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